MOUNT VERNON – Ariel-Foundation Park hosts the third annual Paddle for Heroes 5k and Adventure Race on Saturday, May 22, with participants choosing between a 5K Run/Walk or the Adventure Race, which adds to the challenge by putting obstacles along the race route.
Organizers will be on hand at 8:30 a.m. to take walkup registrations at the Kiwanis Pavilion; Steve Fleming, president and founder of Paddle for Heroes, told the Mount Vernon News.
The 5K Run/Walk starts at 9:30 a.m. and will wind its way through the park. Participants can run or walk, and their pets are welcome.
The Adventure Race consists of both a 5k run and a 1.5k paddleboard race on Central Lake. Fleming said the 5k will use the same course, except they will add a bucket carry, tire flips and sandbag carry along the route.
Organizers expect 50 to 75 participants in the races, which serve as a fundraiser for Paddle for Heroes. Every participant will receive a finisher’s medal.
Raffle tickets will be sold for a standup paddleboard donated to Paddle for Heroes. The winner will be announced in August.
The nonprofit organization Paddle for Heroes helps veterans, first responders and others get out on the water. Each year, the group does river cleanups on the Mohican River, the Kokosing River, and most recently the White River in Michigan. The Kokosing River Cleanup will be held this year with a date yet to be determined.
“We just get more and more people every year participating,” Fleming said. “It will be a lot of veterans, first responders and their families. And then we have a lot of non-veterans that just want to help support our mission and help clean the river. It's amazing.”
In 2019, Paddle for Heroes raised $35,000, using the funds to install an ADA-accessible kayak launch at Ariel-Foundation Park.
A week after the races, on May 29, the fifth Mount Vernon to Marietta Paddle for Heroes kayaking trip begins. The trip ends on June 3.
This year it is dedicated to Army Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, a Knox County veteran.
Goare was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which is airborne, Fleming said. Goare was on a mission to rescue four Navy Seals missing in Afghanistan in the mountains near the Pakistani border on June 28, 2005. A helicopter used for the mission was shot down.
The Danville native received awards including the Air Medal with a V-device for bringing medical supplies to children in Afghanistan.
Goare is survived by his parents, Charles and Judas Goare of Danville.
Participants in the 160-mile, six-day trip include approximately 15 veterans, a retired police officer, a firefighter and members of every branch of the military, Fleming noted.
A Mount Vernon native, Fleming said he is big into paddling. The idea to start the Mount Vernon to Marietta trip began five years ago as he talked to friends.
Fleming was a member of the Coast Guard stationed in Norwalk, where he volunteered with Heroes on the Water, a veterans’ fishing trip. His next discovery was Team River Runner, which takes wounded veterans whitewater kayaking. That first trip raised $6,000 for those organizations.
The support given by the Mount Vernon community and other small towns along the Kokosing and Muskingum rivers has been amazing, he said. Campgrounds often donate camp sites when they learn about the trip’s purpose, and people who live along the river cook meals for them.
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